Spring!

In a nice combo of old and new technology, I started class last night with a free write/reflection on a series of photos published online by The Atlantic depicting spring around the world.

Using photos as a writing/reflection prompt on the evocations and implied narratives in images trods on well worn ground in the writing classroom. But the images were curated by an online publisher -- and I happened on them through Twitter.

Each week as we explore the uses of Twitter in the research writing classroom, I continue to be struck by its ability to inject a little serendipity into the research process. It's not great for looking up specific answers to specific questions (or finding the piece of information students want to neatly fit into what they think their paper should be about). But if you are in the habit of scanning, and you click that "follow" button occasionally based on whimsy, wonders do await. Really, just take a look at those fabulous pictures and see if you aren't in the mood to write about spring!

(oh, and students came up with some great insights about the uses and limits of images in the composing process)